Five for Friday - Oct 2

Five for Friday is a weekly teacher linky party where you post five random things from today or this past week and on your blog. Then, you come back and link your blog post up at the bottom of this post in the linky tool.
Hi guys! I can't believe that I haven't posted in over two weeks! I also can't believe that it is October. Ummm, what?! Where did September go??? I love October. We have settled into our routines (for the most part haha), it is no longer 30 degrees and HUMID at school, and of course - Halloween and Thanksgiving! I feel like loving holidays just comes with the job description :)

Anyways, since it is Friday and I haven't posted in so long, I figured it would be fun to do a little Five for Friday tonight! My brain is a little fried right now, but I do have some big, meaty posts coming soon. Until then, here are five things from our week!

We painted today! I try to paint with them at least once a week. It usually ends up being on a Friday, but once we get starting with Modules intégrés, it could end up being any day of the week. I just find it relaxes them so much... they get so into it! We did a directed scarecrow draw today. You can definitely tell that we are still new to drawing and painting, but I love how they turned out! We followed the directions from this pin on Pinterest, and I also modelled each step at the easel. First we drew with a pencil, then traced with a blank crayon, and finally painted with disk (watercolour) paints.

I love how they all turn out so differently, even though we follow the same directions!

I also introduced the game "Roule et couvre" today for the first time. We generally learn four new letters a week (one per day Mon-Thurs), and then on Friday we play games that review all our letters. They did SO WELL! I was amazed. Everyone got right to work, and played for the whole time - no sillies, and not much noise. I loved hearing them spontaneously say the letter names that they rolled and that they were hoping to roll out loud.

I managed to not get a picture of the dice in any of the shots I took - oops! But basically, there is a die that goes with each game board with an uppercase letter on each face. Students roll the die one at a time, and cover the lowercase that corresponds with the letter they roll. If they have already covered all of that letter, zut! It is their partner's turn. The first to cover all their letters wins. We practiced how to be a good winner and a good loser, and to shake your partner's hand and say good game - and... no tears or sore losers!

This game is easy to differentiate. I have 16 students, so I printed eight game boards. Six were to practice upper- and lowercase association, but for four of my stronger students who already know their letters well, I printed out two of the game boards that practice identifying initial sounds. They had to find a picture on their board that started with the same sound of the letter they rolled. They loved it!

I LOVE seeing partners working together and learning from each other! If you are interested in this game, you can grab it in my store by clicking HERE, or on any of the pictures above. It also includes game boards for ending sounds, vowel sounds, and syllables!

We have also really started focusing on speaking FRENCH. Rather than always being like "en français, en français!", I like to focus on the positives and really praise those who put in the effort. So, I use gum balls to motivate ;) I printed out a gum ball machine for each student and hung it on the cupboards. Whenever I hear them making an effort to speak French, ESPECIALLY when they are playing with or speaking to a friend, they colour a gum ball. If I hear them using a sentence we are practicing (this week were are working hard on J'AI fini rather than je suis, and using JE instead of moi in sentences), I tell them to colour two. If I catch them speaking English, I get to say "aw, darn! I am so sad I don't get to let you colour a gum ball! I will keep my ears open for you guys speaking French!".

I like this system because it is automatically differentiated as well. I have some kids who started knowing zero French. For those three, if they toss one French word into a sentence, or say simple things like "au revoir!" or "ça va bien", I get really excited and they can colour a gum ball. For my little pros, I really focus on them speaking French with their peers. Once a student finishes a gum ball sheet, they get to play on the *gasp* computer during centre time! I don't have any ipads in my classroom and we haven't been on the computers at all yet, so this is a big deal ;) And also... free haha.

Some friends got a liiiiiiittle too excited and forgot to only colour one gum ball, so Mme had to add some extras on the sides ;)

You can snag these gumball machines for FREE in my French Resource Library, in the "Gestion de classe" section. There is also a blank version, so you could use it for any desired behaviour :)

(Don't have access to the library yet? No problem! Just CLICK HERE, fill out your info, hit the pink button to sign up, and I will email you the password!)

One of my former students (from two years ago) brought me sunflowers on Wednesday. Made my whole day and brightened my whole week!

We are going to make these turkey crowns next week. Aren't they so adorable?! I have to admit, the last two years I have been guilty of not getting our Thanksgiving activities done before Thanksgiving. This year, we are getting them done!!!

We will also be making this Freebie from Mme Angel! Go snag it from her store!!

Have a great weekend!!! I will be back soon with a post about how I teach letter names and sounds :)

PS - Are you a member of my FREE French Resource Library yet?? If not, just enter your name & email below and hit the button. I'll send you the exclusive password and instructions for getting your hands on every freebie I have ever made - and will ever make!

I wish that I could've read your blog in the 80s when I was trying to learn French in high school! I remember practically nothing. Reading your blog would have been great practice! Have a wonderful week. JanLaughter and Consistency

Hi, I'm Mme Andrea! I teach maternelle at a francophone school in gorgeous rural Nova Scotia. Here you'll find lots of classroom tips & tricks, as well as resources and teaching ideas perfect for the French primary classroom. Whether you teach immersion or at a French first-language school, you'll be sure to find some helpful ideas here!